Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Goodnight Oslo

Three years ago Robyn formed his latest band The Venus 3 with Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey & Bill Rieflin. This is the follow up to Ole Tarantula that came out 3 years ago. Goognight Oslo is a new collection of Robyn's eccentric sound in music. This CD has a mix of acoustic, electric, horns, harmonica and some good old rock. This is Robyn at his finest in putting a different style to music today.

"What You Is" really is a bluesy style song with some background singing. Really good start to the CD and lyrically a cool tune. Following is "Your Head Here" is a cool a tune with nice rythms and some good vocal changes through it.

"Saturday Groovers" is a nice catchy pop tune with some horns and a really bouncy beat to it. One of the more catchy tunes on the CD. "I'm Falling" is a really nice ballad type song, very beautiful. If I were to pick a song that might get more play than others it would be this one for sure. Sort of some of that early 60's groove added to it, if that makes sense.

"Hurry for the Sky" has a bit of a western style feel like you are sitting in an old saloon hanging out ready for a gun draw or the train to arrive in town. "Sixteen Years" is a really dark song. I don't know historically the significance of the sixteen years, but it really plays to some dark devestating years. Pretty cool tune as dark as it is.

"Up to Our Nex" was from the Jonathan Demme film "Rachel Getting Married". I can't say I've seen the movie, but the song is really cool. There's some horns and simple beat going on with maybe some mandolin in the back. It's a catchy little pop tune. "Intricate Thing" is love between a man and a woman. Very simple catch little acoustic tune with some good harmonies in it.

"TLC" is another one of those simple 50's rock style songs with Robyn singing in a low tone through the start. It sort of has a groovey feeling to it. It gives you a sense of relaxation in a slow melodic way.

"Goodnight Oslo" finishes this CD off with another darker style song. It keeps this beat like it's rolling along and going to catch up to a point and just keeps rolling. It's really a nice finish to the CD.

This CD really has a couple of different styles of Robyn's music from over the years. Robyn seems to continue to get more impressive as he continues his career and tries different styles of music. I've always been a fan of "Eye" and his darker accoustic styles of music, but I love "Globe of Frogs" as well. This is one band I hope to catch if they would ever come to Kansas City. I've seen Robyn before and really love his music and this is a great addition to the collection from all the years.

I would certainly recommend going out and getting this one, it's well worth the money.

Track Listing:
1. What You Is 3:25
2. Your Head Here 3:48
3. Saturday Groovers 2:47
4. I'm Falling 4:34
5. Hurry for the Sky 3:11
6. Sixteen Years 4:23
7. Up To Our Nex 3:46
8. Intricate Thing 3:30
9. TLC 3:46
10. Goodnight Oslo 6:00

R.E.M. - Accelerate CD Review

Well we have a new REM cd for the first time in four years. Seems like they are trying to get a little back to the roots of their old days and play some good old alternative rock. I'm not really a fan of the first two tracks on the cd. I feel like they are trying to be something they shouldn't be. From that point on I really like the track selection. Supernatural Superserious reminds me of the good old days of Document or Lifes Rich Pageant. Following it up with Hollow Man kind of keeps me thinking of those good old REM days and it really follows through in the next few songs as well. Mr. Richards is a little different in style, but I like the style with some good guitar going through as Michael Stipe sings a good constant song.

Over all, I really like the new cd. I lost touch with REM for a bunch of years because after Out of Time I really felt like they lost what I liked about them. So I sort of just walked away and didn't pay much attention to them. When I heard the new cd was coming out I had a listen and really enjoyed it after I got past the first two songs. I really feel like they decided to get back to what made them good.

Track Listing:

1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Man-Sized Wreath
3. Supernatural Superserious
4. Hollow Man
5. Houston
6. Accelerate
7. Until The Day Is Done
8. Mr. Richards
9. Sing For The Submarine
10. Horse To Water
11. I'm Gonna DJ

The first time I saw REM was on the Document tour back in November of 1987 in Madison, WI. It was a fantastic show and Michael Stipe just blew me away with the intensity of his performance. He had long hair and wore about 6 layers of clothing and slowly made his way down to the final suit. I really wish that they would have recorded a DVD of one of the performances from that tour. I would love to see that tour again and relive the good old days. I have seen them a couple times since, but nothing was ever as good as that tour for me.

I see they have a DVD out from 2003 and it looks like they went back to playing some of the good old classics. I may get that one and report back on that next.